Thursday, May 10, 2007

Dale Earnhardt Junior Leaving DEI

Junior leaving DEI: I was trying to think of an appropriate analogy among the other major sports, so non-NASCAR fans might appreciate the hugeness of this situation.

Here's the criteria: (1) Most popular athlete in the sport. (2) Leaving a team synonymous with his identity (if not his name). (3) Becoming a free agent and definitively moving on to a new team.

Is it overstatement to say it would be like Michael Jordan leaving the Bulls in 1996, like Cal Ripken leaving the Orioles in 1991 or like Brett Favre leaving the Packers in 1997? I suppose the closest thing is Wayne Gretzky leaving the Oilers for Los Angeles.

But given that those players left team sports – and that NASCAR is inherently a sport of individual stars – this is arguably even bigger than if the situation involved those names listed above.

Again: You don't have to be a NASCAR fan to understand how big this is.

19 comments:

I would argue that its nature as a sport with individual stars makes it much less important than if MJ had left the Bulls or Jeter had left the Yankees. Fans won't care what "team" Jr. is driving for--they root for Jr., not for DEI--whereas MJ and Jeter fans mostly are rooting for the Bulls and the Yankees.

Now if Jr. left for a team that uses Ford, then fans might get a bit shaken up that Jr. isn't in a Chevy anymore. Personally, I think it would be cool--and fans would freak out completely (in a good way)--if he went to Hendrick and drove the 3 car. I don't know if that's possible, but it would be cool.

But given that those players left team sports – and that NASCAR is inherently a sport of individual stars – this is arguably even bigger than if the situation involved those names listed above.

How the hell does that make any sense? Because it's an individual sport, people don't care what team anyone drives for - they aren't DEI fans, they're Dale Jr. fans. This is much smaller news for exactly that reason.

It is huge in that the most popular driver in the sport is leaving his dad's team because he doesn't think he can compete for a title with them. On top of that his ride for next season is undetermined. So for months there will be speculation about where he will end up. The teams he can actually easily fit into are pretty limited because he stated he wants to stay in a Chevy. Your top Chevy teams in no order are Richard Childress Racing (the team his dad drove for), Hendrick (Which doesn't have a seat available at the moment) and Joe Gibbs Racing.

He can't go to Hendrick and drive the #3 because RCR owns it. He could go to RCR and drive the #3 and that actually makes a lot of sense. Budweiser will certainly follow him anywhere he goes so there won't be sponsor problems. I dunno, I find it pretty fascinating that his step-mother wouldn't pony up the share of the team required to keep him there. She is screwed.

And Marco, they do make right-hand turns... they race road courses twice a year. But really if all it takes is right hand turns to make things interesting for you than you might try following CART or Formula-1. Or just drive around your block clockwise a few times.

I guess the sports equivalent would really be if MJ switched to wearing Reebok but Nike kept ownership of the "Air Jordan" brand. MJ wouldn't be able to market teh "Air" brand, because Nike owned it. But Nike wouldn't really have the capital it had when MJ was in the fold.

Still, I think this is a huge story, but not for any sport/competitive reasons. It's huge in that the son and the widow have this rift, and are now splitting. But as far as the fans following the races, this has pretty much no effect. Kevin made this point more clearly.

I like the analogy of tiger changing balls, clubs, sponsors etc...You would still follow Tiger and pull for him but you would still acknowledge there was a change. This is a big situation because it does give a new identity to one of the poster boys of the circuit. I would assume that if Jr. went to hendricks he would lose fans who can't stand Johnson or Gordon. If you don't know NASCAR there is a line with those two and either you like them or you don't there is no in between (think Damon to Yankees sort of situation). I couldn't imagine that could happen without people getting off the Jr. camp for that reason. I liked the idea of Jr. Mortorsports but if he wants to guarantee a competitive car he would be best with Hendricks or at least buying Hendricks Motors (which was another rumor flying around that is probably unfounded.)

I think the best analogy came from one of the NASCAR analysts on ESPN: George Steinbrenner selling the Yankees and buying the Red Sox.

Or rather I think, maybe more like Steinbrenner buying the Cubs, or Dodgers, or some other (huge) team, but not necessarily the big rivals. Almost all the fans rooting for the team on the field wouldn't really care, but it would be a huge huge news story, similar to the Jr. business.

I have to concur with the yawns of indifference. I only watch two races per year, the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. This was after attempting to follow an entire NASCAR season that is entirely too long.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.